SOLDIER
by L0vel3ss
Summary: Cloud has it rough with his new job! Good thing he's got the general on his side,.....I think...
1. Sign up

Cloud quietly stood in line shifting side to side, he wasn't sure he wanted to try out. The general seemed to be ripping all of the other men's dreams apart, not only was he telling them they were too weak, but he also was toying with them. Cloud felt himself sweat and tighten his grip around the weapon he was currently holding. God, why did his mother want him to do this? That escaped him.

Then, all too soon, it was his turn. He took a huge breathe in and braced himself. The general just smirked happily, like this torture was absolute fun for him. Cloud took the stance he'd been trained in the two weeks to do. The general's expression became blank as he quietly took the first step forward. Cloud gave a gasp and dodged the first attack, hitting the general in the arm.

Cloud couldn't believe it! He'd actually hit the general! Not that the other's hadn't, he was probably going easy on him at first. Then, all too suddenly, he felt an incredible blow to his head. He blacked out for a short moment swaying from side to side, but shook himself and tried the best he could to stand up holding the huge sword he was being forced to use.

The general seemed slightly amused and dashed at him with extreme speed; he was hardly even a blur! Cloud ducked as he felt air whoosh by his cheek. Cloud knew this was all hopeless, he'd just have to keep dodging the general's attacks to even hope to still have his pride in tact. He felt another very painful blow to his leg causing him to kneel in front of the general. Then another blow to his head causing him to bow down, his head at an incline.

The general gave a laugh as he bent down ever so slightly to taunt Cloud. "You bow before me, just as you should-"the general walked over to Zack taking the paper from his hands and marking something down. Cloud felt the other potential SOILDERS staring a whole in the back of his head. "-Cloud Strife is it?" he asked as if he could careless what his name was. "You've passed." the general inclined just the slightest bit to Cloud and Cloud staggered up unable to believe his ears.

The general turned to the other potential SOILDERS. "Not one of you did what he just did in that fight; can anyone tell me what that is?" he asked in a loud booming voice that made even Zack jump. Not a soul spoke as the general paced in front of each man. "None of you picked yourselves up after you were hit just _once, _you didn't keep trying. If you can't even pick yourselves up from one blow how are you expected the fight off thousands of rebels?" again, not a soul spoke.

The general gave another one of his famous smirks. "You are all parentally dismissed!". Cloud looked at the general oddly, but didn't say a word as he strode towards him. "Go get your things, I'll have Zack take you to your room" then he walked off leaving Cloud and Zack alone.

Cloud sank to his knee's showing how utterly exhausted he was. Zack gave a small laugh and offered his hand out to Cloud, who, eagerly took it. "Yeah, the general doesn't go easy on anyone, that's for sure!" Cloud was happy at least one person understood his pain. "You'll learn though! Plus, I think Sephiroth took a liking to you." Cloud was perplexed. "Sephiroth..?"He asked as Zack sat him down on a bent. Zack gave him a funny look. "The general, his name is Sephiroth. He's the son of a very famous scientist! Doctor Hojo, he did the experiments for Omega and the life stream. He works here at Shinra now though; he helped develop the system that keeps the power here." Cloud was now thoroughly impressed. Zack just gave him another friendly smile and helped support him as they walked down the hallway to Cloud new room, and his new life here at Shinra.


	2. Training

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own ANY of the characters in this. It is owned by Square Enix!

**_Please_ reveiw!**

Cloud was taken to the room closest to Zack; he didn't quite know why Zack had insisted so. Cloud didn't mind though, it'd be great to have at least one friend here. There also was the constant pressure he now felt from the general, Sephiroth. It seemed to Cloud that the general had high expectations of him; of which Cloud thought himself incapable of. Zack set Cloud down gently on his bed; Cloud gave a groan as he felt the blow the general had taken to his head. "Stay here, I'll get you some ice." how he could honestly move anywhere was beyond him.

He tried to steady his breathe as the pain started to sink in. His adrenaline had been running before, but now he'd all, but run out and he could feel the burning sensation starting from his legs to his head. Zack walked in with a pack of ice and set it on Clouds forehead making it feel as if his head was going to bust open. "My, my, Sephiroth branded you huh buddy?"Zack asked laughing at his cruel joke. Cloud swatted him away with his hand. Zack nodded giving him a sympathetic look and left the room to let Cloud wallow in his misery alone.

The next day Cloud reported to the president himself, for some odd reason which escaped Cloud. He stood up as tall as he could and held his hand to his forehead giving the president a salute. "At ease SOILDER"the president mumbled. Cloud obeyed and took a seat his was offered by the president gliding his hand to the seat. "Sephiroth has told me he see's potential in you Strife." Cloud choked a little bit on his own spit, but then composed himself. "So, we've decided to have Zack take you under his wing and perhaps, even become second to only the general himself." Cloud found it hard to breathe.

"That is all, you're dismissed Strife" Cloud saluted once more bowing slightly then closed the door quietly behind himself before sighing and finding his legs like jelly. Zack peeked out from behind a pillar; apparently he'd heard the whole thing. "Seems like your getting pretty famous around these parts huh partner?"Zack said with a crooked smile. Cloud just shrugged and balanced himself. "So! You start your training now!"Zack said pulling Cloud into a very large room. It was filled with swords and a bunch of boxes. Zack smiled as he watched Cloud's face, he was clearly unsure of himself.

"Your task will be quite simple today! I want you to break the boxes with this-"Zack unsheathed his own sword and handed it to Cloud. When he left go and handed it to Cloud it immediately dropped to the floor along with Cloud. He hadn't realized just how heavy his sword was, it seemed to Cloud that by the way Zack was holding it, it was as light as a feather. Cloud picked himself up and tried to wield the heavy sword, but found it nearly impossible. Zack gave a look "you can't even pick that up, but Sephiroth wants me to train you? This must be a mistake!" as soon as he uttered those words Sephiroth strode in making Zack suddenly uncomfortable.

"No Zack, you have to have him start out with a light weight sword. That's your problem, honestly do I have to do this myself?" he said coolly and Zack just hung his head. Sephiroth pulled a sword off of the wall and handed it to Cloud. It was a lot less weight and Cloud could easily move this one around. "See?"Sephiroth said walking away. Zack cringed as he heard the door slam behind Sephiroth and Cloud muttered "owned..." under his breathe.

**_Please_ reveiw!**


	3. breaking boxes

That smart little comment Cloud made didn't exactly help him. Zack made him hold boxes up to help develop his upper body strength. Not to mention that for that comment he had added five or so more boxes. Each one was filled with wine, each box weighed twenty pounds. Twenty multiplied by 6 is, 120 pounds. When could figured out how much weight he was actually holding it made it seem a lot more hard than it had before he did the math. Zack was just watching as If he was enjoying seeing Cloud in pain. He'd sometimes make comments such as "Come on! You can do better than that!" or "that's nothing compared to what's for tomorrow" or even "Don't make me add another box or two".

Cloud was really close to punching Zack square in the face. "That's enough." Zack finally said allowing Cloud to drop the 120 pounds worth of wine. Cloud glared at him with intense hate was Zack handed him the sword Sephiroth had chosen for him. "Now, your going to break the boxes." he said smiling and walking up to a bunch and cutting ten of them in half. Wine spilled onto the floor making the room thick with the smell of alcohol, which made Cloud a bit dizzy. Glass littered the floor making Cloud's movements limited. "Have fun!" Zack said walking away. "Oh, and you can't leave in till you've broken every box" he added closing the large doors to the training hall.

Cloud staggered a bit and sighed letting himself lean against his oversized sword. He had to figure out how to hit the boxes without making himself dizzy and hurting himself. He'd have to move at an intense speed for that to be possible, but with this sword he could barely even move. He decided to try it. So he began to run with the sword breaking only two boxes without being tired and the other symptoms. "Great, only 98 more to go" he muttered hopelessly.

After what seemed like forever Cloud finished off the last box staggering and struggling to keep from fainting. The smell made him sick and the glass was now stuck in his hands and feet. He moved away from the boxes collapsing on the ground puking and staggering back up. He reached the door opened it, but then he couldn't make it anymore. The sword dropped from his hand and he fell down on the carpet. His vision blurred then it went completely dark.

When Cloud woke back up he heard yelling. He rubbed his forehead and felt a wet wash clothe. His arms were wrapped up and the glass removed. "You can't push a new SOILDER like that! What were you thinking?!" he heard the general's loud booming voice from the other side of his bedroom door. "I was training him like Rufus asked!" Zack retorted angrily his nostrils flaring at the general. Sephiroth grabbed Zack's shirt and pulled him to his face. "You will _kill_ him if you keep this up! Rufus asked you to train him, not kill him because your jealous!" the general had picked Zack off his feet, realized he had, and set him back down. "Do I make myself clear?" the general asked looking Zack in the eye.

"Crystal"


	4. Aeris

(Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 7 OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO TETSUYA NORMURA!! Thank you 3! That is all)

Zack, with the fury of a scorned woman, slammed his fists against the door to his room. Jealous? Jealous? Don't make me laugh! Him, jealous of a _new_ SOILDER like Cloud, I think not! He gritted his teeth in frustration. How _dare_ the general interrupt _his_ training? He didn't care if he was Professor Hojo's son or the son of the devil, this was not acceptable.

Cloud heard the fight end with Zack's voice and looked down at the blank white bedspread. The door gently clicked open and the general appeared.  
"I'm dreadfully sorry that Zack pushed you that far. Regardless if he's supposed to be training you, it's not acceptable to push a new SOILDER like you that far. I apologize for this, on behalf of the SOILDER industry." The general finished his speech and departed rather hastily, like he had somewhere to be at this moment. Cloud sighed and closed his eyes. _Is Zack going to be mad at me?_ He wondered. He pushed that aside and fell into a deep slumber.

"Wake up!" a loud voice boomed so that Clouds ears rung. He sprung up in bed, his eyes now peeled back as far has his eyelids permitted. Standing in front of him was a girl. She had brown that was weaved into a braid, green eyes, and the most angry face he'd ever seen in his life.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at _you_, but by any chance have you seen Zack?" her expression betrayed worry now.  
Cloud, for a second, was at a lose of words. There was a woman, a very pretty woman, inches from his face demanding to know where his trainer was.  
"Oh, no, I haven't seen him around-"Cloud began, but even before he could answer fully she threw her hands up in the air to show she was displeased.  
"Of all the rotten things!" she mumbled her voice rising to the ear-piercing level. Then, there began a rant.  
"I've been waiting at his room for all most 2 hours! Two!-"with that she held two fingers in front of Clouds nose. "I'm sick and tired of waiting around for him, what a no-good-lousy-"then the door pried open.

Zack walked in to find a very angry girlfriend and I very startled and pale Cloud.  
"There you are!" she said happily as if all of her anger had been directed at someone else. Cloud began to think that maybe it had been. Zack looked a bit startled himself. "I thought you said you were coming over here tomorrow?" The girl frowned. "Oh no! I said today!" the anger was rising again. Zack seemed to push it aside. "Well then, I guess it's your lucky day Cloud. No training today."  
Cloud ex-hailed in relief;

One, because there was no training! And Two, because maybe the girl would quit yelling at him and leave!

As they turned to go, the girl stopped abruptly and smiled at Cloud. He felt a surge of lightening run through him.

"Oh! By the way, my name is Aeris Gainsborough!"

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Cloud Strife."

END


	5. Heights

(Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 7 OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO TETSUYA NORMURA!! Thank you 3! That is all)

Although Cloud got a day off, he was awoken early the next morning for more training! Yay..! He had been woken up by Zack's loud mouth and dragged half-dressed and half-awake out of his comfortable dorm. Not to mention Zack had forgotten the fact that human beings have to eat. When Zack had dragged Cloud where he wanted him, he just simply let go and let Cloud fall to the floor. He scrambled up and rubbed his nose.

"Owww…..Oh, my god!"

They were on top of the roof to the rather tall Shinra building! Suddenly, he felt really queasy. Zack half smirked as he saw Cloud's legs start shaking. "I read in your papers that you were afraid of heights-!" Zack had to yell because of all the wind on the top of the building. To make matters worse for Cloud, there were no railings and the building was rounded, which meant it was slippery.  
"-So I took you up here for training today!" Did god hate Cloud? What had he done to them to deserve such torture? Or maybe it was just his moms fault! She'd made him sign up!

Cloud was so scared he dropped down to his bottom and scooted to the dead center of the structure. Zack, of course, wasn't going to let him off so lightly.  
"Today we're going to practice balance." With that Zack dropped the wood he'd been carrying. Carefully, he put it together to make a very large and very tall beam. "You're not only going to have to balance-"Zack jumped up, onto the death beam. "-you're going to have to fight me." No, God definitely hated Cloud. He found himself hyperventilating. _Oh dear lord, Oh dear lord_ he kept repeating in his head as he tried to will his legs to move. He finally stood up, arms out stretch straight across to keep him balanced. He swayed to and fro and yelped every time he tilted too far to one side.

He didn't want to move. He couldn't do it. This was it, his training ends here and he'll have to go back to his mom!  
"Aww, come on Cloud? Are you a man or aren't you? I mean, cause from up here it looks like you might be sprouting some boobs". Oh, that did it.  
In a fury of anger Cloud maneuvered himself onto the death beam and punched Zack right in the face. Zack's body stumbled back a little. He took his hand and wiped his mouth, a smirk plastered on his face.  
"Now were talkin'!"

They fought late into the early beginnings of night. They were blooded and pissed at each other, but they kept fighting. It wasn't until dark where the both of them were panting and too tired to even put a fist up. Cloud could only see out of one eye since the other had been beaten until it closed.  
Zack abruptly, started getting off the beam. Suddenly, it hit Cloud. All of that time, he hadn't even realized he was on the beam hundreds of stories from the floor. Now, that he looked, he wasn't scared anymore.  
Looking up at Cloud Zack smiled a bloody smile.

"You pass"

END


End file.
